ACL Line to Columbia, North Carolina??

Didn't the ACL line from Rocky Mount on to Plymouth used to run further east to a small northeastern North Carolina town by the name of Columbia? Also, if so, this line would have crossed the old Norfolk Southern at some point. What woas the name of the crossing point? When was this line abandoned east of Plymouth, NC?

Answers

Ray Smith's original question asked if the ACL line from Rocky Mount
to Plymouth, NC, ever went east to Columbia. As I've stated above, the
ACL did not. The ACL line was built by the Albemarle & Raleigh RR, a
standard gauge common carrier, opening from Tarboro to Williamston in
1883 and on to Plymouth in 1889. Where it stopped. The A&R was
acquired by the Wilmington & Weldon RR in 1894, and the W&W became
part of the ACL in April 1900.

The next railroad to reach Plymouth was the 3ft gauge Roanoke RR &
Lumber Co. who built a line from "Little" Washington NORTH to Plymouth
in 1888-1889. In 1901 this company became the Washington & Plymouth
RR, a 3ft gauge common carrier. Now we have the ACL coming into
Plymouth from the west and the W&P coming into Plymouth from the
south.

The Washington & Plymouth RR was sold to the Norfolk Southern RR in
1904. Also in 1904 the NSRR built a standard gauge line from Mackey's
(Ferry) to Plymouth, entering Plymouth from the northeast, and the
ex-W&P line south of Plymouth was standard gauged.

The line from Mackey's to Columbia was built by the Virginia &
Carolina Coast RR, a standard gauge common carrier, in 1906, in an
effort to compete with the Norfolk Southern for eastern North Carolina
freight traffic. The V&CC was merged into the NSRR that same year.

Mr. Lewis - What is the source of your information about the line to
Columbia being a logging RR that was abandoned in 1900? I have a copy
of the Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation, dated June 1914, of
the Norfolk Southern RR which shows the NSRR owning a line from
Mackeys to Columbia. The line also is shown as NSRR in a 1911 NSRR
promotional book, the map with the NSRR schedules in the 1907 OFFICIAL
GUIDE and 1908 Poor's MANUAL OF RAILROADS. The NSRR was running two
passenger roundtrips a day, except Sunday, in August 1917. It may have
been a logging RR prior to 1906, but it was certainly NSRR from then
'til 1950.

Although it was Norfolk Southern that served Columbia, prior to
1927 (?), NS's Pamlico Division crossed ACL's Plymouth Branch
twice in the 2.2 miles between Haley and Plymouth. A realignment
of NS's main line eliminated one of the crossings. The crossing
that remained is the NS lead to the pulp mill.

The ACL only went as far east as Plymouth, NC. There it connected with
the original Norfolk Southern RR which ran to Mackeys and on east to
Columbia. I have the Mackeys-Columbia abandonment being circa 1950.
Mackeys-Plymouth became part of the mainline of the NS.